This 'Riverdale' Theory May Explain Who Chic Cooper's Father Is & It's Wild

A new Riverdale character means a bunch of new mysteries and theories for the fans to ponder. The CW's dark teen drama returned from its winter hiatus with an explosive new episode on Wednesday, Jan. 17, and it included the long-awaited arrival of Betty Cooper's long-lost brother Chic. Although we still don't know much about Chic, he is definitely going to become very important to the rest of Season 2. One of the biggest mysteries surrounding him is who his real father might be, and I have a theory about Chic's dad on Riverdale that just makes so much sense, and it would really shake things up if it turned out to be true.

The show seems to be laying the groundwork for a reveal that Hal Cooper is not actually Chic's real father. In the midseason premiere "The Blackboard Jungle," when Betty brings up the idea of searching for Chic to her parents, Hal becomes enraged and forbids it. Alice has to pretend to agree with Hal, but then comes to Betty's room alone and admits that she really does want to find Chic, but could not admit it in front of Hal. This anger from Hal echoes what we learned about Chic's birth back in Season 1: At their high school homecoming dance, Hal responded angrily when Alice told him that she was pregnant, urging her to get an abortion. Where could all this rage from Hal be coming from? Well, the most obvious explanation is that Hal isn't Chic's real father.

If that's true, then who could Chic's dad be? All the clues point to one man: FP Jones. We know Alice was once a Southside Serpent in her youth, and that she and FP have a particularly close history with one another — he was there watching Hal and Alice fight about her pregnancy at the homecoming dance. Fans have also picked up on some serious chemistry between Alice Cooper and FP Jones in the scenes that they've shared, and it seems super obvious that they must have had a romantic past. And not to mention the fact that Chic just looks so much like FP... I mean, come on.

OK, so if Chic is revealed to be the son of Alice Cooper and FP Jones, what could that lead to? Well, one thing that would mean is that Betty and Jughead now have a sibling in common, and they would know that their parents were once an item. Chic's reemergence has also already started getting under Hal's skin and might just send him over the edge after a while, possibly even leading to Alice reigniting her romance with FP. That would lead to a very Gossip Girl-esque quasi-incest thing where Betty and Jughead have to come to terms with their feelings for one another while also dealing with their parents' similar romantic entanglements. Basically, what I'm saying is that the reveals of FP being Chic's father could really stir up a whole lot of stuff in the town, especially with Betty and Jughead.

Oh, and let's not forget the possibility that Chic could be the Black Hood. Although Mr. Svenson was unmasked in the midseason finale, Archie voiced what all the fans were thinking after that anticlimactic reveal in the latest episode: "I think the Black Hood is still out there." Chic has been a prime Black Hood suspect among fans ever since it was first revealed that Betty had a secret, long-lost brother, and at the end of the new episode we see him creepily watching Betty sleep at night. Hmmm, what could be going on with Chic? All I know right now is he gives me the creeps.